Show CHARGES ARE AND BASED ON indefinite RUMORS none 3 of the circulatory circulators of the rumors against indusi trial school appears to substantiate Charge exhaustive investigation the committee can obtain nothing specific against fault lies in the matter of inadequate appropriations after a day and one half of strenuous examination of witnesses by the joint legislative committee the much talked af insistently demanded legislative investigation vesti gation of the slate industrial school came to a close last evening so ar as the taking of evidence ii concerned the committee adjourned at ilic school at p in to meet in executive session nt the parlors at 5 p in their object was to draft a report which however would not be given to the public until presented to the legislature probably tomorrow two members of the committee went lome at p m yesterday senators and loose and alie rough draft of the report will bo presented to tham for agreement after the legislative session today and then ns stated will be presented to the legislature tomorrow what eliat report will be will hardly be unexpected by those who heard the investigation there was not one iota of evidence brought before the committee sitting as n judiciary broad that would indicate the use of any unusual cruel or brutal methods in the school not one bit of testimony that proved I 1 the existence of any conditions for which the board of trustees or officials can be blamed in fact the entire result of the immerso amount of delving seemed to prove that the only shortcomings short comings of the institution arc directly traceable to the small and inadequate appropriations of tho pat the joint legislative committee which came to investigate the management succeeded apparently in convicting past legislatures of shortsightedness short sightedness to use no more severe term and opened their own eyes to the fact that they are on the vargo of making the same error one of the recently publisher charges were found to be either baseless rumors or small incidents magnified by the active turpitude of youthful inmates and the gullible natures and fertile imagination certain reporters of all the sensational rumors on which charges were based not one was baui crad before the board of investigation none of the papers which biad urged the charges them before alic board nat one of the members of alic legislature who drew basly conclusions from a superficial investigation and lent color to the rumors by ill advised interviews were present to tell the sources of their information As senator iw renco stated the charges are indefinite and arc really but mere rumor and newspaper talk based on superficial observation the committee has nothing specific to work upon all the witnesses were sworn when testifying as to the methods used in the school the long list of reputable witnesses who gave testimony for man argement and the inmate who under oath testified on that line also could have but one deflect that of completely doing away with any belief that any but kind and humane methods obtained at the school A great amount of the interrogation and answers was desultory in character and not wholly germane to the points under investigation while as a matter of course all of the i evidence was ina cumila tive and lengthy portions could be eliminated without in any way affecting the thoroughness of alio investigation or the conclusions to ho arrived at the examination of the witnesses was effective and thorough each member of the legislative committee had full i privilege of which each ane availed I 1 himself id each witness at many questions as he wished and tho result was that tho smallest details were instances the examination extended far without the scope of the authority hut the members of the board of ann tees and the officials of the school asked for no restrictions and the tion was thus most exhaustive judge II 11 P II enderson ot salt lake city had been asked by the board to act in their interest but his action was simply to elicit from each witness as full evidence oa possible and ins efforts were along the rame linca as the questions propounded by members of the committee and in fact the apparent dei cirp on the part ot all was to fid all tho one worthy of remark was that ot the five inmates who testified against the on iciak two are await in punishment ment lor crime and they threatened to cabie two are youthful tramp criminals who confess that they want to pet out and imek to their former mode of life and tho fifth hopelessly contradicted his own testimony ARRIVED IN the committee konstiny eon stiny of senators lawrence loose hennion and sart nash mcfarland and colton the latter in place of done detained neav by illness in his famila arrived in at saturday there were aho in the brei ident allion of the senate parley P lake who came us a and at armal C E layna tho party was met al the train bv K C of the board of trustees who had a special car of ho ogden street railway in bailine wa iline tho T ho proceeded to the reed cherp the held an informal beacon in the and organized organised sed by senator hennion as chairman and diep tentative at chev then went direct t the industrial school enero they were welcomed by Trim teca fiume n nil secretary and jadw II 11 T fion alio had preceded hern to taft school by halt an leour committee itka opened session in the office of thi in to n request from senator that the of alie board arft that they want the conditions methods and everything every thins to lie school thoroughly As many and reports derogatory to the and tha institution had in he way of tumor the trustees expect the committee to probe and delve meet tho inmates question and examine to ascertain the true state of affairs and that the boardie confident that the rumors bo to be unfounded audgo II enderson added for the board eliat if any of the committee knew ot any witness that could substantiate any of the published reports or any definite charges the board would jike them subpoenaed aed ho then read at length from the article in the herald which contained the charges of unkind treatment and lie stated that it was the desire board that tho inmates be examined thoroughly as to these charges he also spoke of some charges that representative bash had claimed to have in written form in liia possession and said c would expect to have tho investigation deal with these then for about an hour and one bialt the timo was occupied sn explaining financial affairs of the school the explanations being ably made by president A T wright of the board and secretary hollingsworth seems to havo been 0 mistaken impression that had ne out that the board had turned funds back to the state treasury they stated the funds always remained in the state treasury and were drawn by warrants that the funds said to have been turned back were in fact balances remaining and showed an economy in tho departments to which these balances are credited these funds could not be used for any other purpose adf they had been appropriated for a specific purpose and attorney general bishop i had directed that chev could only thus be used another point was that of the remaining 2000 was funds that came in at the very last of i aho term too lato to bo of an material lj Anio ca ml ia i a kafure 0 appropriation t anc traba purchase of tract of land west of in 40 completing and furnishing of cottage j i 1 lor female inmates general maintenance interest on lands allotted to fionte ly enabling at r 1041 totals S rm the explanation showed that at no one limo was there a balance sufficient in any one fund in attempt any im suggested by the members of the present legislature the examination about tho financial condition occupied some time and at length the members decided that there was no controversy over th at and so they dispensed with further tion along that line senator lawrence said it does not seem to me to be incumbent upon ui to attempt to substantiate any indefinite charges no charge is made as to financial mismanagement it seems to me the inquiry should bo confined to the physical condition of the institution I 1 cant see how wo can arrive at anything dc finito unless makes a verbal specific charge if sir nash or anyone else will mako direct charlca will conduct the tt ait oit tho press has had sensational tart lins articles on the of the institution statements it brems t nie based on a superficial inquiry ln of the lower choute it to TOO the of the bouso whence when fe these charges original ori ginat ed should take tha initiative ff this brought Ee axah la 14 hia feet and he produced a letter to liim 1 l from mrs wilson cioth crl of eva curtis now confined in thai weber county jail on a charge of having attempted to burn the industrial the letter after blaming mine m I 1 for eva curtis troubles on to charge that the inmates are chipi bcd and abused thrown inlow solitary vit honl bedding continued on page 7 CHARGES ARE VAGUE AND BASED OH indefinite RUMORS continued from page 6 fand twisted twitted twit ted about their former lives in the letter she charges eliat inmates arc not allowed to sec visitors and talk to them continuing she dayss when that awful scandal canic out about maggie curlis attacking mr allison I 1 wrote to mr allison but he did not answer my letter I 1 vent to ogden and mr allion told me if I 1 was going to eay anything about the aws I 1 could not see aba girls mr allison was horse whipping eva maggie fortado him to whip her sister adv more then he used his horsewhip horse on maggie they dont try to reform inmates only by brutal force the rope fiends at the penitentiary are already boasting what a picnic they will have when two nice birli are fant out to them mrs allison told me minerva reeves is insane why jio tell to the board so she could be taken a wayt in presenting the above letter mr nash stated he had other information of a corroborative nature and this brought out some sear clung questions from judge aenderson Ue representative Is ash finally admitted tho information was a in the nature of mere rumors traceable to no direct source then he suddenly fired up and refused to be cross questioned he claimed that he was a member of the committee sitting as a judiciary board and did not have io give testimony he exclaimed we are her elo investigate and you may as well know abw arc masters of the situation several well known i of ogden congratulated me that ine investigation had been instituted as it was needed and would undoubtedly be of great benefit to the institution perhaps they meant because we would find these vague charges false mid senior lawrence and we might sen the need of career appropriations it was finally agreed that the questioning be confined to witnesses and president A T bright of the board was put on the stand as the first witness ate said 1 I have been on the board for six years and discharged my duties a a member of the board during that time never having a meeting I 1 heard the letter of the wilson woman read but do not know her however I 1 know two of her daughters who nave leen inmates the witness then got the commitment book and from that that maggie and eva curtis were the girls lie referred to maggie was for incorrigibility on nov 3 1901 and was paroled in oct 1902 2 w hiie coulta go an uncle up into cache where she now Js it came to the winners knowledge that while she waa an inmate she attacked the superintendent with a pair of shear but that official would be in a better po to tell of incident eva curtis the other sister he knew was corn milled for incorrigibility on dec 10 and had been an inmate until ft month since she was committed from pall lake by judge stewart on a charge bf incorrigibility about month ago she ried to burn the school and is now in the counte jail on a charge of argeon continuing mr wright said what the ichter saya about whipping is all new ato me when first came anthe board I 1 heard complaints that the inmates were not properly fd f d I 1 have repeatedly as aured cadi inmate that if they ever had complaints to make against the officers nr superintendent at any time the board is always willing to hear them without any officers or ahe superintendent being present there had been no complaint from the girls and once when some of the girla were obliged to appear aa witnesses against one of the officers the officer was discharged so that there would not be even a suspicion of unfairness the boys did not make any complaints until a fcc weeks ago some had complained that wallace had punished them unnecessarily we investigated and found nearly all the statements 1 have been in the habit of cornin out here several times a month and have repeatedly asked if there were any complaints but had never heard of the onea complained of in the letter air wright then cited an instance of an n mate perverting alie truth aearl kessler gave a letter to a former inmate to mail to her mother in which she begged for goda sake to get her out that she was being confined in a dungeon on bread and water As a matter of fat she never was in a dungeon and grew heartier and lazier from the moment of her incarceration there is a dungeon at the tion said mr wright but it is used only when there is a marked insubordination mr wright then explained the system of parale and that those paroled must report once each lie abw explained that any complaints made by the inmate were made during the absence of the superintendent and ilie officers lie also told of an incident aben the boys turned out the light in their do and when alie guard entered the larger boys knocked him down beat him and three of the boys escaped and two have never been recaptured superintendent alcieon was placed on the land lie lias been superintendent since and fiance then has been actively in discharge of duties lie had heard the letter rend from the auson woman ve had three girls and one boy from the curth family in the school he aid As regards the there ia not one word of truth in the letter I 1 know the writer she wa here the garl told the aard matthews who brought them lacre eliat they would amke it oo 00 d ii liot or us we would and them ariy and they came pretty near doing il abey came liero unutterably filthy in and their bod ife diseased their dotlich re irio ed in an outhouse bixl burnel they used bonx ot not i ever heard among themselves to alie yi aind to the guards language that tolerate in their faina re neer way n iby those ano giran vere alie only ever t by in e lii story of ali in and I 1 only aed a amp abern rb ern the chool was thory by them and was dlf lerent pla tn they went mapie beha weha about pound t her aarom the shoulder and the stabbed w n c with the admora and boade an attack which required tho matron and othar girls to repel I 1 anally sot aroln iuar As I 1 for 14 days two y on hr and mater ana twelve 1 she y abat she had one quick tempered but boon it so fara far a bedding wan corn corned it wag not very dimply pillow a mattress and a few aiulu she was paroled to bo cared for by her relatives in cacelie valley and is doing all right there eva owned up to having set fire to the building once the third sisters record was equally bad both for fact and talk she set firo to a davis county building once one son died fa the penitentiary later convicted of burglary I 1 have never heard of any stripping or logging all there was used was a strap about two feet long it sets pretty eang on a person all punishment has been moderate in view of the committed mr allison then corroborated mr wright as to the board meetings and the opportunity allowed inmates to make complaints pla ints each member ot the board was in the habit of going among the inmates alone and making inquiries there haa been no horsewhipping horse whipping in the institution or stripping ana whipping only five boys have been whipped during bupt supt incumbency while the above proceedings were taking place tie sheriff had |